Saturday, December 14, 2013

Everybody wants to believe everyone ought to be just like themselves

Megyn
Kelly, the blonde babe news anchor for Fox News Channel, is getting more than
her share of ridicule on the Internet these days for her statement on air this
week that both Santa Claus and Jesus Christ were white.

Believe
it or not, I’m not about to join in the abuse. Yes, it’s a nonsense-thought to
have when you think about it.

YET
I DON’T doubt that many a person just perceives things this way. It’s that
instinct amongst us that everybody has to be just like us. Otherwise, maybe it
means there’s something wrong with themselves.

That
is what makes the modern-day reality of the 21st Century in our
society so scary for some – we’re not all alike. Nor should we have to be.

We’re
at a point where we ought to quit thinking of the concept of a “Black Santa” as
some sort of joke, and maybe a recognition of what we all are. Besides, we all
ought to realize that Santa Claus is a Latino, flying around the skies in a
sleigh pulled by reindeer fueled with “Magic Dust” (or so said Cheech Marin of the
Cheech & Chong comedy team).

For
Kelly to want to perceive Santa as a fat old white man is just a realization of
who she is. Anybody who’s surprised that she’d think that way is the one I
would want to question.

WHAT
ELSE WOULD you expect from her?

Actually,
my initial reaction when I learned of Kelly’s comments (which were in response
to a commentary published at the Slate.com website and written by a black woman
who wrote about being confused as a child because Santa in her house was black,
while he was white everywhere else) was to recall a moment from my own college
days.

One
day in a class where we were engaged in a conversation either about Aristotle
or Plato (I’m not sure exactly which one), somebody made a comment in support
of the philosopher and referred to his “Christian” values.

To
which the professor tried to hold back a laugh when he explained that the
philosopher in question was not of any religious faith that could be called “Christian.”

THAT
STATEMENT PROVOKED a debate amongst the students that took up the entire rest
of the class session.

“Of
course he’s Christian,” some students said. “We wouldn’t study him if he weren’t
Christian,” others wanted to believe. “He’s a good person, so he has to be
Christian,” was also heard.

There
were some students who were not in agreement, and even tried arguing back that
the words “Christian” and “good” and “moral” were not necessarily synonymous
with each other.

Not
that any of the initial group wanted to hear of it.

PERSONALLY,
I RECALL that day in class as one of the most humorous moments of my academic
life. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that others probably viewed it
as some sort of moment when they were exposed to subversive thought.

Just
like I’m sure that some people probably want to view the idea of a non-White
Santa Claus as violating everything they want to believe about our society.

I
ultimately came to realize that “Santa Claus” is about a concept – one of
sharing and giving, which is what the upcoming Christmas holiday can be at its
finest. (At its worst, it’s nothing more than a greedy gift grab – but that’s a
commentary for another day).

If
some people feel the need to believe that “sharing” and “giving” are concepts
only relevant to themselves, then perhaps they’re saying more about their own
hang-ups, and we should pity them for being so close-minded.

BESIDES,
DIDN’T THE whole concept of Santa Claus and Jesus being either “white” or “black”
get resolved all those decades ago by the “Archie Bunker” and “Henry Jefferson”
characters on “All in the Family.”

At
least when actor Carroll O’Connor’s Bunker character persisted in claiming that
both Jesus and Santa were white, he was just going for a cheap laugh!

I am a Chicago-area freelance writer who has reported on various political and legal beats. I wrote "Hispanic" issues columns for United Press International, observed up close the Statehouse Scene in Springfield, Ill., and for a time, I also wrote about agriculture. Trust me when I say the symbolic stench of partisan politics (particularly when directed against people due to their ethnicity) is far nastier than any odor that could come from a farm animal.